Public Alliance "Azerbaijan without Political Prisoners" proposes to start political reforms

The Public Alliance "Azerbaijan without Political Prisoner" demands to release innocent unfairly sentenced prisoners, stop the persecution of dissidents, and create conditions for free activities of NGOs. This is stated in the report of the Public Alliance, presented at a meeting of human rights defenders and family members of political prisoners.

The meeting, held on December 10 at the premises of the Association of Azerbaijani Intelligentsia, was timed to coincide with International Human Rights Day.

"During the past year, the number of political prisoners in Azerbaijan has reached its highest level for the past 10 years and exceeded 160 people," noted Oktai Gyulalyev, the head of the Public Alliance "Azerbaijan without Political Prisoners".

According to him, the situation with freedom of expression also deteriorates. So, publications on the Internet resulted in questioning at the police for Oktai Gyulalyev himself, public figures Eldaniz Guliev, Gezyal Bairamly, Arif Gadjiev, Nureddin Mamedli, and journalist Zamin Gadji.

Eldaniz Guliev, the chairman of the Association of Azerbaijani Intelligentsia, believes that "the repressive policy of the authorities can be countered only by peaceful public resistance."

Full text of the article is available on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’.